马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 十一
“…… 据着名律师约翰?J?马龙称，悲剧发生时他恰好在那所房子里。人们认为图伊兹是入室盗窃的受害者。丹尼尔?冯?弗拉纳根队长承诺会尽早将凶手捉拿归案……”
“… according to John J. Malone, prominent attorney, who happened to be in the house at the time of the tragedy. It is believed that Tuesday was the victim of a burglar. Captain Daniel von Flanagan promises an early arrest.…”
杰克?贾斯特斯把报纸揉成一团扔在地上。“这么多年了，他们还总是轻信那个老掉牙的入室盗窃的借口，真是令人难以置信。”
Jake Justus crumpled up the paper and threw it on the floor. “It’s unbelievable how they go on falling for that old burglary gag after all these years.”
马龙往自己杯子里倒了一英寸黑麦威士忌。“见鬼，冯?弗拉纳根总得跟报纸说点什么。他总不能说，‘这个叫图伊兹的家伙被杀的时候房子里有一群人，但我不知道该抓哪一个。’”
Malone poured an inch of rye into his glass. “Hell, von Flanagan had to tell the papers something. He could hardly say, ‘There were a bunch of people in the house when this Tuesday guy got knocked off, but I’m damned if I know which one to pick.’”
他抿了一口黑麦威士忌，在脑海中回顾麦克莱恩大厦的平面图。有一个大楼梯从中央大厅向上延伸。杰拉尔德?图伊兹的房间在楼梯顶端的一个小角落里，门朝着楼梯。海伦?布兰德?贾斯特的房间在走廊往右侧。罗特斯?艾伦的房间在它对面，卢埃拉?怀特的房间紧挨着。罗斯?麦克劳林的房间在走廊尽头，就在那个通向侧门的小楼梯旁边。彭德利?泰德韦尔的暗房在走廊的最末端。当杰拉尔德?图伊兹被杀的时候，这五个人在楼上。
He sipped his rye and reviewed in his mind the floor plans of the McClane mansion. There was the big staircase that went up from the central hall. Gerald Tuesday’s room had been at the head of it, in a little ell, with its door toward the stairs. Helene’s room was down the hall to the right. Lotus Allen’s room was across from it, and Louella White’s next door. Ross McLaurin’s was down at the end of the hall, just past the little staircase that ended near the side door. Pendley Tidewell’s darkroom was at the very end of the hall, toward the rear. Those five had been upstairs when Gerald Tuesday was killed.
楼下 —— 他叹了口气，又把杯子倒满。还有时间因素要考虑。海伦在他们到达后不久看到图伊兹还活着，坐在他的书桌前。那是四点过五分的时候。她刚下楼，女仆就被派去图伊兹的房间，发现他死了。那是四点二十五分的时候。在图伊兹被杀的这二十分钟里，莫娜?麦克莱恩在楼下，他和她在同一个房间，海伦、罗特斯?艾伦、年轻的麦克劳林、泰德韦尔和卢埃拉?怀特在楼上。迈克尔?文宁和伊迪丝?文宁夫妇在那段时间的大部分时间里都在外面的大道上散步。他们进来的时候，他自己也听到了，他们直接走进了客厅，没有上楼。
小主，
Downstairs—He sighed, and refilled his glass. There was the time element to consider, too. Helene had seen Tuesday alive, sitting at his desk, just after their arrival. That had been at five minutes after four. She had just e downstairs when the maid was sent to Tuesday’s room and found him dead. That had been at twenty-five minutes after four. During those twenty minutes in which Tuesday had been killed, Mona McClane had been downstairs—he had been in the same room with her—Helene, Lotus Allen, young McLaurin, Tidewell, and Louella White had been upstairs. The Vennings had been out walking on the Drive during most of that time. When they came in—he had heard them himself—they had e straight into the living room, without going upstairs.
杰克打断了他的沉思，非常随意地问道：“你没有收到海伦的任何消息吧？”
Jake interrupted his reverie, asking very casually, “You haven’t heard anything from Helene, have you?”
“你觉得我会收到海伦的消息吗？”
“Would you expect me to hear from Helene?”
杰克的脸微微泛红，说：“嗯，我以为她可能会从哈瓦那寄张明信片给你。”
Jake turned faintly pink and said. “Well, I thought she might have sent you a postcard from Havana.”
“她可能还没时间，” 马龙告诉他，“你知道那些古巴人是什么样的。”
“She probably hasn’t had time,” Malone told him. “You know what those Cubans are.”
把海伦的名字排除在报纸对这起谋杀案的报道中费了点周折，但马龙还是做到了。他认为这些努力是值得的。
Keeping Helene’s name out of the newspaper accounts of the murder had taken a little doing, but Malone had managed it. He considered it well worth the effort.
这位小律师对目前的情况有了非常明确的看法。一直阻碍杰克和海伦进展的绊脚石是骄傲，骄傲不仅是一种罪恶，而且是一种非常愚蠢的行为。然而，事实就是如此。他推断，如果能让他们避免过早地相遇，一切都会好起来的。与此同时，让他们分开将是一件棘手的任务，而这正是他喜欢的那种事情。
The little lawyer had e to a very positive conviction about the situation. The rock in Jake and Helene’s progress had been pride, which was not only a sin, but a lot of damned foolishness. However, there it was. If, he reasoned, they could be kept from running into each other too soon, everything would be all right. In the meantime, keeping them apart was going to be a tricky business, which was just the kind of business he liked.
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杰克对着报纸皱起了眉头。“这些人都是谁？”
Jake scowled at the newspaper. “Who are all these people?”
马龙深吸了一口气。“你应该知道文宁家族。迈克尔?文宁就是文宁家族的代表。除了签收支票，他从未为家族做过任何事情。他刚刚回国，这是他二十年来的第一次回国访问。他一直住在东方，印度、新加坡、上海，因为他喜欢那里。他是个高大魁梧的家伙，看起来脾气可能很坏，而且没什么脑子。他的妻子是个身材高挑优雅的女人，体态像一匹非常漂亮的马，看起来就像宿醉未醒的麦克白夫人。不知道她带着这个面无表情的护士，是为了有人陪伴还是因为她有点傻，她时来自森林湖和夏洛瓦的普特南家族。”
Malone drew a long breath. “Even you ought to be familiar with the Venning estate. Michael Venning is the Venning estate. He’s never done anything for it except cash the checks. Just returned to this country for his first visit in twenty years. Been living in the Orient—India, Singapore, Shanghai—because he liked it there. Big, beefy guy, looks as though he might have an ugly temper and no brains worth mentioning. His wife is a tall, graceful dame with a figure like a very beautiful horse. Looks like Lady Macbeth with a bad hang-over. Can’t figure if she has this granite-puss nurse just to keep her pany or because she’s a dopey. She’s of the Putnams, of Lake Forest and Charlevoix.”
杰克用牙齿发出一声轻蔑的啧啧声，说：“我们可以把你宣传成吉纳维耶芙?马龙，给你找份写社交专栏的工作。把瓶子递给我，接着讲你的故事。”
Jake made an insulting, clucking noise with his teeth and said, “We could bill you as Genevieve Malone and get you a job writing society columns. Hand me the bottle and go on with your story.”
“我离开的时候，麦克劳林那小子还醉得不省人事。即使醉眼惺忪，他也很帅气，有一种迷人的堕落感。他是那种买了六双英国制造的鞋子、在地中海找到一个漂亮小岛，然后在在那里度过余生的那种女人的独子。他在那里的高档私立学校长大。母亲大约一年前去世了，断奶对他来说是个不小的打击。莫娜?麦克莱恩是他母亲的好友，所以她把他带在身边照顾。”
“The McLaurin boy was still passed out when I left. Good-looking even when cockeyed, in an appealingly revolting sort of 方式。He was the only child of the sort of dame who buys six pairs of British-made shoes, finds a nice island in the Mediterranean, and lives there the rest of her life. He was brought up there and in swanky private schools. Mamma kicked the bucket about a year ago, and the cutting of the apron strings was a nasty sock. Mona McClane was a close pal of his old lady, so she’s taken him under her wing.”
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杰克嘟囔着说，任何在莫娜?麦克莱恩庇护下的人最好都带着降落伞，并说道：“别让我打断你。这个罗特斯?艾伦是谁？”
Jake muttered something to the effect that anyone under Mona McClane’s wing had better have a parachute along, and said, “Don’t let me interrupt you. How about this Lotus Allen?”
“她是那种昂贵的马萨诸塞州女孩，在任何场合都本能地穿着得体。长得漂亮，但含蓄内敛。穿着进口花呢、手工编织的毛衣、运动围巾和黑色雪纺内衣。是那种即使不喝酒也不会显得古板的女孩，但她确实喝酒，而且她可能还会随地吐痰和骂人。”
“She’s the sort of expensive Massachusetts girl who instinctively wears the right clothes on every occasion. Damned good-looking, in a restrained sort of way. Imported tweeds, hand-knit sweaters, sport scarves, and black chiffon underwear. The sort of girl who wouldn’t seem like a prig if she didn’t drink, but she does, and she probably spits and swears, too.”
“你和她约会了吗？” 杰克问。
“Did you make a date with her?” Jake asked.
马龙说：“她看上了麦克劳林。我怀疑这就是她拜访莫娜?麦克莱恩的原因。”
Malone said, “She has her eye on McLaurin. I suspected that’s why she’s visiting Mona McClane.”
“这就把嫌疑人都列出来了，” 杰克说。“那么这个尸体是谁？除了杰拉尔德?图伊兹先生的名字之外。”
“That does up the suspects,” Jake said. “Now who was the corpse? Outside of being a Mr. Gerald Tuesday.”
“似乎没人知道，” 马龙说，“包括莫娜?麦克莱恩。几年前她在欧洲的某个地方，猜是巴黎，见过他。在那儿认识的。某个共同的朋友写信告诉莫娜他要来芝加哥，她就和他取得了联系并邀请他到她家做客。这就是大家所知道的一切。毕竟，他刚到这个城市，除了莫娜?麦克莱恩，房子里没人见过他。冯?弗拉纳根现在为了了解他的情况都快急疯了。”
“Nobody seems to know,” Malone said, “including Mona McClane. She’d met him somewhere in Europe a few years ago—Paris, I guess. Got acquainted with him there. Some mutual friend wrote Mona that he was ing to Chicago, and she got in contact with her him and invited him to stay with her. That’s about all anyone knows. After all, he’d just arrived in town, and nobody in the house had met him except Mona McClane. Von Flanagan’s losing his mind trying to find out about him now”
杰克皱起眉头。“他的被杀不符合莫娜的赌注条件。但肯定有某种联系。他是在她家里被谋杀的。他临死前还试图给你打电话。显然他知道那个赌约。” 杰克深吸一口气说，“我想和莫娜谈谈。我想我现在就去那儿。”
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Jake scowled. “His murder doesn’t fulfill the terms of Mona’s bet. But there must be some connection. He was murdered in her house. His dying act was to try to telephone you. Evidently he knew about the bet.” Jake drew a long breath and said, “I want to talk to Mona. I think I’ll go over there right now.”
马龙不由自主地叫道：“哦，不，你不能那么做。” 然后突然停了下来。
Involuntarily Malone exclaimed, “Oh no, you can 不能那么做，然后突然停了下来。
“为什么我不能去见莫娜?麦克莱恩？”
“Why can’t I go to see Mona McClane?”
“她受到了惊吓。” 马龙赶紧说。
“She’s suffering from shock,” Malone said quickly.
“你净说瞎话。那个女人就算经历一场大爆炸也不会受到惊吓。”
“You’re full of little bananas. That woman wouldn’t suffer from shock after a mass dynamiting.”
“她家里刚发生了一起凶杀案。这肯定会让人有点心烦意乱。”
“She’s just had a murder in her house. That’s bound to be a little upsetting.”
“好吧，就算她心烦意乱。你自己也常说，人们心烦意乱的时候和他们交谈能了解到更多信息。”
“All right, so she’s upset. You always said yourself you could get more out of people by talking with them when they were upset.”
“很晚了，我也累了。”
“It’s late and I’m tired.”
“现在才九点，如果您那么累，我自己去。”
“It’s nine o’clock, and if you’re that tired, I’ll go alone.”
“不，不，不，” 马龙说。“如果你坚持要去，我和你一起去。” 他快速地思考着。这场游戏在这么早的时候就让杰克在莫娜?麦克莱恩家碰到海伦，可能会危及他们将来和解的机会。而且如果杰克发现海伦在这个城市而他却被蒙在鼓里，那麻烦可就大了，而马龙就是将为此付出代价的那个人。
“No, no, no,” Malone said. “If you insist on going, I’ll go with you.” He was thinking fast. For Jake to run into Helene at Mona McClane’s so early in the game might imperil the chances of a future reconciliation. And if Jake discovered that Helene’s presence in the city had been kept from him, there would be hell to pay, with Malone on the paying end.
他在乘电梯下楼的整个过程中，一直在快速思考。他没有办法把海伦从麦克莱恩家弄走。即使他能在路上设法打个电话，他也很难向莫娜?麦克莱恩解释这种情况。
He went on thinking fast all the way down in the elevator. There was no way he could get Helene out of the McClane house. He could hardly explain the situation to Mona McClane, even if he could manage a private telephone call on the way.
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他们在公寓酒店前叫了一辆出租车，杰克说出了莫娜?麦克莱恩在湖滨大道的地址。马龙向前探身说：“但是首先，司机，去里基特酒吧。”
They hailed a taxi in front of the apartment hotel and Jake gave the Lake Shore Drive address of Mona McClane. Malone leaned forward and said, “But first, driver, go to Rickett’s.”
杰克说：“这是要干什么？”
Jake said, “What’s the idea?”
“我还没吃晚饭呢。空腹喝莫娜的苏格兰威士忌，我会一头栽倒的。我们先去吃点食物，然后再去和她好好谈谈。”
“I haven’t had any dinner yet. Mona’s Scotch on top of an empty stomach, and I’d fall flat on my face. We’ll get some food first, and then go and have a long talk with her.”
杰克重重地叹了口气，靠在坐垫上。能够离开这间他为他和海伦回到这个城市而租的公寓，感觉真好。并不是说这间公寓不好，而是它太容易让人想起过去。总之，这是沉闷的一天。
Jake sighed heavily, and leaned back against the cushions. It seemed good to be out of the apartment he had taken for his and Helene’s return to the city. Not that it wasn’t a nice apartment, but it was too damned reminiscent. All in all, it had been a dreary day.
“你想听听我了解到的过去三周芝加哥的凶杀案吗？”
“Do you want to hear what I found out about the Chicago homicides of the past three weeks?”
“以后再说。” 马龙说。